Laundry machine



J. BOCHAN LAUNDRY MACHINE Nov. 21, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 10,1960 HIS ATTORNEY Nov. 21, 1961 J. BOCHAN 3,009,343

LAUNDRY MACHINE Filed Feb. 10, 1960 ESheets-Sheet 2 FIGZ INVENTOR 3'0 HN 50!; H AN WWW H S ATTORNEY Nov. 21, 1961 J. BOCHAN 3,009,343

LAUNDRY MACHINE Filed Feb. 10, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 F'lGB INVENTORJ'OHN BOCHAN gym/ M H l S ATTORNEY Nov. 21, 1961 J. BOCHAN 3,009,343

LAUNDRY MACHINE Filed Feb. 10, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR 35a TOHNSOCHAN H 5 ATTORNEY Nov. 21, 1961 J. BOCHAN LAUNDRY MACHINE Filed Feb.10, 1960 FIG. 7 IZ O O O O O O O O L 87 INVENTOR JOHN BOCHAN H l SATTORNEY United States Patent 3,009,343 LAUNDRY MACHINE John Bochan,Louisville, Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation ofNew York Filed Feb. 10, 1960, Ser. No. 7,788 2 Claims. (CI. 6820) Thisinvention relates to domestic laundry machines, and more particularly toan improved domestic laundry machine of the type which uses a conveyorbelt arrangement for providing the motion of the clothes which isrequired during laundry operations.

It is an object of my invention to provide a laundry machine whichincludes novel means for effecting the motion of the clothing generallydeemed necessary in order for laundry operations to be carried outeffectively.

A further object of my invention is to provide a laundry machine whereina conveyor belt system raises the clothes to the top of a receptacle inthe machine and thereafter permits them to fall freely to the bottom,this cycle continuing during the laundry operation.

Yet a further more specific object of one aspect of my invention is toprovide a laundry machine having a conveyor belt system therein in whicha substantial part of the treating of the clothes is provided as theyare released from the top of the conveyor belt system and allowed tofall to the bottom thereof.

Yet a further object of my invention is to provide such an improvedmachine wherein the conveyor belt system, in addition to providingmovement of the clothes, is also effective after washing and rinsingoperations to effect the removal of liquid from the clothes.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a laundry machine which has aclothes receptacle in which there is a relatively wide endless conveyorbelt which is so driven and guided that at any given instant the belthas a first portion travelling in a substantially horizontal directionsubstantially below the top of the receptacle, and a second portiontravelling from one end of the first portion in an upward directiontoward the top of the receptacle. The second portion of the conveyorbelt cooperates with suitable means which secure .the articles ofclothing against the second portion so as to carry them upwardly to apoint short of the upper end of the second portion, whereby the clothesthen fall from the upper end of the second portion down toward the firstportion. Suitable means, depending upon what particular treatment of theclothing is desired, are provided for treating the clothes, generallyduring their free tumbling descent toward the first portion.

The features of my invention which are believed to be novel are setforth with particularity in the appended claims. My invention itself,however, both as to its organization and method of operation, may bestbe understood by reference to the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings,

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a laundry machine, specificallya combination clothes washer and dryer, incorporating my invention inone embodiment thereof, the view being partly broken away and partly insection to illustrate details;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of my invention, broken away toillustrate the components controlling and operating the clothes-treatingequipment;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of my invention, broken away toillustrate the clothes-treating equipment;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of a second embodiment of myinvention, partly broken away to illustrate the components controllingand operating the clothestreating equipment;

FIGURE 5 is a second side elevational view of the same machine shown inFIGURE 4, partly broken away to illustrate details of theclothes-treating equipment;

FIGURE 6 is a view along line 6-6 in FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a view along line 7-7 in FIGURE 5; and

FIGURE 8 is a view along line 8-4; in FIGURE 5.

Referring now to FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, and moreparticularly at first to FIGURE 1, there is shown a laundry machine,more specifically a combination washer-dryer, generally indicated by thenumeral 1. The machine is provided in the conventional manner with anouter cabinet or casing 2 which is supported on a base 3 and which hasas its upper surface a portion 4 which includes a lid member 5. Lid 5can be opened so as to provide access through an opening 5a (FIGURE 3)in portion 4 to the interior of the machine. Top section 4 may alsosupport a control panel 6 having suitable controls, generally indicatedby the numeral 7, and a suitable indicating dial shown by the numeral 8.

An internal dividing wall 9 is provided from the front to the back ofthe cabinet 2 so as to divide the cabinet into two entirely separatesections or compartments 10 and 11. Within section 10 there are providedthe transmission and controlling components, while in section 11 Y isprovided the actual receptacle in which the clothes are treated and theequipment which performs the treatment on the clothes as controlled bythe equipment in section 10.

Section 11 (see particularly FIGURES 1 and 3) includes an imperforatetub 12 which, as can be seen, substantially fills section 11 from thetop almost to the bottom and from side to side. Within tub 12 threerollers 13, 14 and 15 extend substantially across the full width of thetub. Roller 13 is mounted upon a shaft 16 which extends through wallsection 9 in sealed relation thereto and is connected to suitabledriving apparatus which will be described herebelow. Roller 14 ismounted on a shaft 17 secured at the end of an arm 18 which in turn issecured on a shaft 19. Shaft 19 extends through wall 9 for a purposewhich will also be hereinafter described. Roller 15 is mounted on ashaft 20 secured at the end of an arm 21 rotatable about a pin 22;suitable spring means 23 bias roller 15 to the right as viewed in FIGURE3. Arranged so as to pass over the three rollers 13, 14 and 15 is a belt24 which is provided with regularly spaced perforations 25 (FIGURE 1)and is of an appropriate width so as to extend substantially from oneside to the other of the tub 12. Belt 25 may be formed of any suitablepliable material with substantial strength as, for instance, rubber witha fabric core.

Also mounted in section 11 so as to be within tub 12 are an additionalpair of rollers 26 and 27 respectively mounted on rotatably supportedshafts 28 and 29. Shaft 28 extends through wall 9 into engagement withdriving apparatus as will be further described herebelow. An endlessconveyor belt 30 is mounted to pass over the two rollers 26 and 27 so asto be driven by the rotation of roller 26. Belt 30* is preferably ofsubstantially the same width as belt 24. Suitable tension may beprovided in belt 30 by the provision of a small movable roller 31mounted at the end of an arm 32 rotatably mounted on a pin 32a andbiased to the right (as viewed in FIGURE 3) by a spring member 33.

It will readily be seen that with belt 30 positioned as shown in themachine, belt 24 is caused to take asubstantially L-shaped configurationincluding a generally horizontally extending portion 34 near the bottomof tub 12 and a generally upwardly extending portion 35 connecting withone end of portion 34. Spring 23, with its tendency to move roller 15 tothe right, thereby also causes roller 14 to be moved over to the righton arm 18 as much as is permitted by the presence of roller 27.

In order to operate the belts 24 and 30, I provide suitabletransmissions means which include, as viewed in FIG- URE 2, a drivingmotor 34a secured on base 3 of the machine in compartment 10. A pulley35a is secured at the end of the motor shaft and is joined by a belt 36a(which may be of the conventional V-type configuration) to a largerpulley 36 mounted on shaft 28. In addition to the roller 26 and thepulley 36, I provide on shaft 28 a gear member 37 which meshes with atwin gear member 38 secured on the part of shaft 16 which extends intocompartment 10. It will be seen that during operation of motor 3412motion will be transmitted from pulley 35a through belt 36a to pulley 36so as to rotate shaft 28 and, through gears 37 and 38, to shaft 16, withboth shafts rotating at substantially the same speed. This rotation ofthe shafts 28 and 16 then causes the rollers 26 and 13 respectivelysecured on the shafts to drive their respective belts 30 and 24. Thedirection of rotation of the motor is clockwise, as viewed in FIGURE 2,so that portion 35 of belt 24 and adjoining portion 39 of belt 30 areboth travelling in an upward direction.

With this driving arrangement, each point on belt 24 will repeatedlyfirst be a part of the generally horizontal portion 34 thereof, then atthe end of portion 34 become part of portion 35 of the belt, and thenpass around the back of rollers .13, 14 and 15 so as to return toportion 34. It will readily be seen that any article landing on portion34 will be carried to the left (in FIGURE 3) and will then be engaged bythe belt 30 so as to be carried between portions 34 and 39 of belts 24and 30 respectively upwardly between them. The resilient mounting ofroller 15 and the movable arrangement of roller 14 permit both of theserollers to move so as to permit clothing, whether it be in bunches orsingle items, to pass between the two belts and be carried upwardlybetween the sections 35 and 39 thereof. In response to the introductionof bunched clothing between the two belts there is a force overcomingthe action of spring 23 to move the rollers 14 and 15 to the leftsufficiently to accommodate the bunched clothing and permit it to enterbetween the two belt portions 35 and 39.

It will be observed that the roller 26 is located somewhat below thelevel of roller 13 so that the top of belt 30 is substantially below thetop of belt 24. When clothing has been carried upwardly to a point whereit is released by the belt portion 39 it then must necessarily fall,lacking support; because of the motion of the belt 30 it falls over tothe right and tumbles freely downwardly towards belt portion 34. Inorder to insure that all of the clothing tumbling down lands properly onthe belt portion 34 and is not caught between the edge of the belt andthe side of tub 12, suitable guiding means may be provided such as, forinstance, guiding baffles, one of which is shown by the numeral 40. Thebatlie may, as shown, extend upwardly through perforated portion 41 soas to be secured at point 42 to the front of tub '12.

In order to effect the desired washing operation in the machine it isnormally necessary to introduce water to the machine, and this may bedone in the conventional manner. The water supply means includesconnections 43 and 44 in section through which hot and cold water issupplied from a suitable source to the machine for the washingoperation. A valve controlled by a solenoid 45 admits hot water to themachine and a valve controlled by a solenoid 46 admits cold water to themachine. The hot and cold water valves under the control of thesolenoids 45 and 46 discharge through a common conduit 47 which has adownwardly extending opening outlet 48 discharging through a suitableair gap into a funnel 49. Funnel 49 is formed as an opening in the wall9 so that water entering the funnel is carried into the compartment 11and tub 12. Any suitable control means such as, for instance, a pressuresensitive mechanism 50 may be provided in order to terminate the supplyof water after an appropriate amount has entered tub 12. For instance, asuitable water level is obtained when the water rises in the tub 12 to alevel just at that of the portion 34 of belt 24.

In order to provide a washing action, the water is recirculated from thebottom of tub 12 by a pump 51 which may be driven by any suitable meanssuch as, for instance, a pump motor 52. The pump 51 has a pair ofoutlets, one being connected to a recirculation conduit 53 and the otherbeing connected to a drain conduit 54. When the pump rotates in onedirection water is forced through the recirculation conduit and out intoa pipe 55 having openings 55a positioned so as to cause the water to besprayed into the portion of tub 12 through which the clothes fall oncethey have been lifted by the belts 24 and 30. Thus, part of the washingaction of the machine is provided by lifting the clothes up and thendropping them through the spray of water which, for washing operations,may be caused to contain a suitable amount of detergent or other desiredcleanser. The impact as the clothes land on the portion 34 of the belteffects a further mechanical cleaning action. Thus, the cleaning actionof the machine is a combination of the chemical action of the detergentas it is introduced by the spray into intimate relationship with allportions of the clothing as it drops and of the mechanical washingaction caused by the impact as the clothing lands on the belt portion34.

Pump 51 is reversible and in its second direction of rotation causes thewater in tub 12 to be passed out through conduit 54 to a suitable drain(not shown). While the recirculation and pumping system is per se not apart of my invention, a suitable pump for effecting this type of actionis fully described and illustrated in my Patent 2,883,843, issued onApril 28, 1959, and assigned to the General Electric Company, assigneeof the present invention.

In order to remove a substantial part of the washing liquid at the endof a washing operation, the water may be removed as described by thedraining action of pump 51. In addition, a substantial amount of liquidmay be squeezed out of the clothes by passing them up between the beltportions 35 and 39. In order to increase the belt pressure on theclothes during this liquid removal portion of the operation, there maybe provided suitable means such as, for instance, a lever arm 55b whichis secured on shaft 19 and is connected at its outer end by a chain 56to a pulley 57 operated by a small gear motor assembly 58. The gearmotor assembly may be of the conventional type which may remainenergized in a stalled condition without any harm to itself.

When it is desired to remove liquid from the clothes, the gear motor 58is energized to cause pulley 57 to rotate so as to wind up the chain 56.The chain then exerts a force on the outer end of arm 55b which carrieswith it the shaft 19 and therefore the arm 18 and roller 14. As a resultof this, the force exerted by the gear motor tending to wind up chain 56on pulley 57 causes a substantially greater amount of force to beexerted by roller 14 in pushing belt 24 to the right against the belt 30and roller 27 than is the case when a washing operation is beingprovided. During the removal operation, the pump 51 is operated by motor52 in the direction to effect draining, as described, and thus all Watersqueezed out of the clothes drains down to the bottom of the tub whereit is removed by the pump.

It will be seen that with the apparatus described, a typical washingcycle which may, as a simple example, include a washing operation, awater removal operation, a rinsing operation, and a last water removaloperation, may be provided.

I In order to give a complete laundering operation, the machine mayfurther include suitable heat drying means so as to cause completedrying of the clothes to be effected after they have been squeezed to astate of partial dryness. In order to effect the complete drying, aconduit system 59 may be provided in compartment 10. The conduit systemincludes an inlet 60 which communicates with the atmosphere (forinstance, by louvers 60a at the side of the machine 1) and through whichair is pulled in by a blower assembly 61 which may be operated in anyconventional manner such as, for instance, by a separate motor 62. Theair pulled in by blower assembly 61 is then passed from the outlet 62aof the blower over a heater assembly 63 which may conventionally be ofthe electric type wherein resistance heating coils are connected acrossa suitable source of electric power. After passing over the heaterassembly 63, the air then passes out through opening 64 into compartment1-]. near the bottom front thereof. An air outlet 65 is provided at theback of the machine adja cent the top of the compartment 11, so that theheated air flows up in the compartment from inlet 64 to outlet 65. In sodoing, it contacts the clothes which are tumbling down as a result ofthe action of belt portions 35 and 39. The heating of the clothes causesvaporization of the moisture in the clothes and migration of the vaporwith the air out through outlet 65. Thus, in this manner, drying of theclothes may be effected in machine 1. I

The machine, as described thus far, is relatively basic in nature. Itwill, however, be recognized that many conveniences and safety featuresmay be added without departing from thescope of the invention. As oneexample, in order to prevent even the slender possibility that operationof the machine will be fouled by clothes adhering to belt 24 and thenpassing over the top thereof and around the back thererof, a suitableperforated guard 66 may be provided. Under ordinary circumstances, guard66 will simply operate to scrape off any clothes which may notpreviously have tumbled down toward portion 34 of belt 24. However,under particularly adverse circumstances, it may occur that there willbe bunching of the adhering clothes such that a substan tial amount offorce will be exerted on the member 66. Member 66 is secured to rotate ashaft 67 which in turn is secured to a switch operating mechanism 68positioned to operate a switch 69. When the force of bunched clothescauses member 66 to move to the left (as viewed in FIGURE 3) shaft 67 ispivoted to cause member 68 to operate switch 69. Switch 69 may beconnected to the electrical system of the machine (not shown) in theconventional manner to cause motor 34a to be shut off when this occursso that damage to the machine is avoided.

A further improvement which may be provided is that of a pedal 70 whichmay be connected to a switch controlling motor 34a so that depression ofthe pedal causes the motor to run. The particular advantage of pedal 70in this case will arise from the fact that the operator of the machinemay keep the belts running intermittently while the lid is open so thatall of the clothes are automatically brought up to her at the speed shedesires. This will, in effect, cause the clothes to be fed up at therate best suited to the operator who then need not lean down at all, butcan merely pick up the clothes as they come up to a point just a littlebelow the opening 5a.

It will, of course, be understood that the two examples of additionalsafeguards and conveniences which may be used with my machine asdescribed are intended to be merely exemplary, and there is no intent toexclude the many other conveniences which will readily come to mind upondisclosure of my invention to those skilled in the art.

'In operation, a suitable control mechanism (not shown) of theconventional type is included and may be, as is also conventional,secured within the control panel 6 of the machine. In the completecycle, the control mechanism will cause the machine to proceed through(1) a washing operation, (2) a water extraction operation, (3) a rinsingoperation, (4) a water extraction operation and (5) a heat dryingoperation.

To summarize the various operations provided, the washing operation iseffected, after an appropriate amount of water has been provided and thevalves have been closed by central member 50, by energizing the motor34a so as to cause belts 24 and 30 to operate as described, andenergizing motor 52 to operate pump 51 in the direction to causerecirculation of washing liquid through outlets 55a. At this time, inthe conventional cycle, the gear motor 58, blower motor 62 and heater 63will not be energized. With motors 34a and 52 energized, the clothes arecontinually carried up by the cooperating belt portions 35 and 39 andthen tumbled down onto belt portion 34 as water is taken by the pump andforced through conduit 53 and outlets 55a to spray onto the clothes asthey drop. This action is the same for both washing and rinsing, itbeing understood that suitable treating liquids may be provided foreither or both of these two operations, and that the water temperaturemay be varied by energization of either one or both of the valvesolenoids 45 and 46.

The water extraction operation which is provided after the washingoperation and the rinsing operation consists of the same movement ofbelts '24 and 30 by the operation of motor 34a with, in addition, thegear motor 58 energized and the direction of rotation of motor 52reversed. The energization of the gear motor causes a substantiallygreater amount of pressure to be exerted on clothes as they pass upbetween the two belts 24 and 30 and the opposite rotation of pump 51causes all freestanding liquid to be removed from the bottom of themachine.

When it is time for the drying operation, after the last extractionoperation, the motor 34a continues to be energized, the motor 52continues to be energized in its second direction, gear motor 58 isde-energized, and the blower motor 62 and heater 63 are energized. Theaction of motor 34a continues to cause the clothes to pass up toward thetop of the receptacle and then tumble down toward belt portion 34. Atthe same time, as described, hot air is passing upwardly from inlet 64to outlet 65 so as to dry the clothes. This action continues for as longas desired, either by a straight timed operation or as part of anautomatic cycle of the type well known in the art, until the completionof the cycle at which time all components are deenergized and theclothes all lie on belt portion 34.

Now the operator need only open lid '5, and then operate the belts bymeans of pedal at a speed appropriate to feed the clothes up betweenbelt portions 35 and 39 so as to bring them within easy graspingdistance.

Referring now to FIGURES 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, a second embodiment of myinvention will be described, with like numerals being used for likeparts.

The same type of driving system is used as before. In the case of theembodiment of FIGURES 5-8, the belt 36a drives a pulley 71 which ismounted on the same shaft 72 as a sprocketed roller 73. A sprocket 74mounted on shaft 72 is connected to a sprocket 75 through a timing beltor chain 76 so as to cause the shaft 77 upon which sprocket 75 ismounted to rotate at the same speed 70 as shaft 72. Shaft 77 in turn issecured to a sprocketed roller member 78 so that rollers 73 and 78 areboth posi-' 7 6 tioned so as to pass over the three rollers 73, 78 and79 is an endless conveyor belt 81 which is similar to belt 24 of thefirst embodiment in that it has a substantial width, approximately thatof the tub 12, and a substantial number of perforations 82.

A shaft 83 is rotatably secured, as shown in FIGURE 5, and a pluralityof spaced pulleys 84 are positioned on the shaft 83 and are joined topulley grooves formed in roller 73 by a plurality of V-belts 85 (seealso FIGURE 7). It will readily be observed that the spaced V-beltspassing over the roller 73 and the pulleys 84 constitute a support forthe horizontally extending portion 86 of belt 81. The direction ofrotation of rollers 73 and 78 is such as to cause each point on thesurface of belt 81 to pass first through portion 86 and then to move onto the upwardly extending portion 87 of the belt which extends from theleft end of portion 86 (as viewed in FIG- URE up to a point adjacent thetop of the tub 12.

In contact with the back of portion 87 of the belt, so that the beltslides thereover, is a manifold 88 which, viewing FIGURES 5, 6, and 8jointly, will be seen to consist of a housing in which a number ofparallel grooves 89, all connected to a conduit 90, are positioned sothat each is directly beneath a row of the perforations 82. With thisconstruction, as the belt 81 slides upwardly over the surface of themanifold member 88, the conduit 98 is in communication through thegrooves 89 in the manifold 88 with the surface of portion 87 of belt 81.Conduit 90 communicates with an assembly, generally indicated by thenumeral 91, which includes a pump of any conventional well-known typeand suitable means for separating moisture from air. Pumps of thegeneral type suited for this purpose and conventional bathe means forseparating moisture out of air are both well known and therefore are notshown in detail, it being understood that they are included in therepresentations of assembly 91. The assembly 91 includes an outlet 92through which air is passed out of the machine and an outlet pipe 93through which moisture (whose presence will be explained herebelow) maydrip out into the bottom of the tub 12.

During the operation of the machine, the water circulation portion ofthe washing system is the same as before in that pump 51 causesrecirculation of the water in spray form from outlet 55 into the tub 12.When assembly 91 is in operation, a substantial amount of suction isexerted through grooves 89 and perforations 82 on the surface of beltportion 87. Consequently, as clothes are carried by the movement of thebelt to the bottom of portion 87 the suction exerted by the operation ofassembly 91 causes the garments being washed to be held by suction torising portion 87 so that the clothes are carried upwardly as long asthe suction is exerted. Of course, when the clothes rise to a pointabove the top of the grooves 89 in manifold 88 there is no longer anymeans for holding these clothes on the belt portion 87 and the clothesconsequently tumble downwardly to land on belt portion 86, while at thesame time the washing action is provided by the spraying of washingliquid from outlets 55a together with the impact of the clothes as theyland on the belt portion 86. The clothes thus go through this cyclecontinuously, being carried up on portion 87 by the suction exertedthrough the manifold 88 behind portion 87, and then tumbling down to bewashed.

After the washing operation is complete, the water extraction operationis then provided by continuing the action of the assembly 91 While atthe same time reversing the direction of pump 51. The reversal of thepump 51 causes the freestanding liquid to be pumped out to drain. At thesame time, the powerful suction of air through the clothes as they areheld on rising portion 87 of the belt 81 causes a very substantialamount of liquid to be extracted from the clothes.

The concept of this means of removing liquid from clothes is not myinvention, but is fully described and claimed in application Serial No.846,436, filed October 14, 1959, by James M. Finder and assigned to theGeneral Electric Company, assignee of the present invention. Duringremoval of the water in this manner, air is pulled through the clothesand a substantial amount of the water in the clothes is picked up by theair passing through the clothes and is carried with the air throughconduit into assembly 91 where the air and water are separated, the airpassing out through duct 92 and the water passing out through conduit 93and then flowing to the pump 51 to be drained.

After a suitable period of this operation, the water extractionoperation is terminated. Thus, the machine of FIGURES 4, S, 6, 7, and 8may be caused to have a washing operation as described followed by anextrac tion operation as described, with these then being followedsimilarly by a rinse operation and a final extraction operation. Themachine as described is simply a washing machine rather than acombination washing and drying machine. It will, however, be understoodthat heating means of any conventional type such as that described inconnection with the embodiment of FIGURES 1, 2, and 3 may readily beincorporated in this embodiment and that a drying operation will beobtained with the action of the assembly 91 both providing the liftingpower for the clothes and helping to dry the clothes quicker.

It will be seen from the foregoing that my invention provides, in allembodiments thereof, an improved washing machine wherein by use of abelt conveyor arrangement the operating parts of the machine aresubstantially simplified over what previously has been provided, withnonetheless fully effective operation in all phases of the home laundryfield, namely, washing, water extracting, and drying.

While in accordance with the patent statutes I have described what atpresent are considered to be the preferred embodiments of my invention,it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the invention and Itherefore aim in the appended claims to cover all such equivalentvariations as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. A laundry machine comprising: a clothes receptacle; a relatively wideperforated endless conveyor belt, and means guiding said belt, said belthaving first and second portions at any given instant, said firstportion being positioned by said guide means to extend in asubstantially horizontal direction substantially below the top of saidreceptacle, said second portion being positioned by said guide means toextend in an upward direction from said first portion toward the top ofsaid receptacle; means driving said belt so that each point thereonpasses through said first and second portions sequentially; meanscooperating with said second portion to secure articles thereagainstthereby to carry them upwardly, said cooperating means comprisingsuction means positioned behind and in engagement with said secondportion thereby to exert suction through the perforations in said secondportion, said cooperating means terminating adjacent the upper end ofsaid second portion so as to cause clothes to fall from said upper endtoward said first portion; and means for treating clothes during theirmovement in said receptacle.

2. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein said drive means and saidsuction means cooperatively cause said belt to assume a substantiallyL-shaped configuration, the upper horizontal portion of the Lconstituting said first portion and the inner vertical portion of the Lconstituting said second portion, said suction means including amanifold positioned between the two rising parts of the 5,482 PorterMar. 21, 1848 357,076 Fitzpatrick Feb. 1, 1887 10 Lambach Mar. 14, 189 3Yates Meir. 25, 1924 Schenck Apr. 7, 193-1 Barifii May 12, 1942 MorrisonIan. 24, 1950 Johnson Sept. 26, 1950 Johnson Sept. 26, 1950

